A Singing Lake in Kananaskis Country?

Ice, freezing and thawing makes a cracking sound due to expansion and contraction with rapid change in temperature. Some lakes, known to make a greater range of sounds, are often referred to as “singing lakes”. Try Googling the term. An interesting account of a lake singing recently appeared on the Hike.Bike.Travel web site. Check out the account of our own Kananaskis Country singing lake. Know of any other singing lakes in Kananaskis Country?

You may also like ...

I remember the same musical boingy-boingy sound when we bounced stones across the thin ice on the little lake which sits below Sentinel Pass in Banff Park, many years ago.

I know this is not directly related, but this summer we were hiking up the remote Brown Creek, far to the north and west of Nordegg, and we camped by a small stream in the valley. We were absolutely convinced that there was a party going on just up the valley somewhere, as we could hear the faint sound of cheerful voices and clinking of glasses. I even went so far as to wander up the valley a little way to see if there was a large camping group just ahead of us. Of course, there wasn’t, and we were surrounded by wilderness. It was just an audible mirage caused by the lively stream, and sadly there was no free beer!

The first and only time I ever heard a lake sing was at Lake Agnes (just above Lake Louise) on October 16, 2010. The lake had a thin layer of ice on top and we were skimming rocks across the top. At first we didn’t associate the sound we were hearing with the rocks skimming across. Once we realized, we were all skimming the rocks at once, which created a unique, bizarre symphony-like sound! It was amazing! Since then, I have tried to create this music on other lightly frozen lakes but without success.

Our Seniors’ Outdoor Club from Calgary encountered this exact phenomenon on October 18th at Marushka Lake which is around behind Tent Ridge in the Mt Shark area — there was a layer of ice on the lake that was flexible and moved with gusts of wind — at first we all thought it was some ravens “talking” on the other side of the lake or people shouting on the slope above the lake — only after a time were we convinced that it was the lake that was singing to us !! We also found that rocks thrown across the lake made an intriguing bonking sound — lots of fun and a first time encounter with a “singing lake”.

I encountered this same thing years ago on a late fall visit to Fortress lake. Ice cracking seemed to cause eerie sounds that echoed off the cliffs above the lake. It was quite strange and was probably the only time in all the years visiting the mountains it’s happened.